Battle of Mayenne

The Battle of Mayenne occurred on 5 August 1944 when General George S. Patton's US Third Army advanced over the Mayenne River in the town of Mayenne during the Battle of Normandy. The Third Army had to secure the bridges to prevent the Germans from destroying them; if the bridges were destroyed, Patton's armor could not move forwards and the Allies would be at a disadvantage. The Germans attacked a decoy convoy that lured them away, and the American infantry secured the town and defused the bombs so that the armor could continue their advance.

Background
The breakout from Normandy began in late July 1944 under the command of Omar Bradley, but the brilliant American general George S. Patton took the lead with his US Third Army and led an armored assault against the Germans as they were driven into the Falaise Gap. The German 7th Army resisted the Allies every step of the way, and they planned to blow up the Mayenne Bridge to prevent the Americans from crossing the Mayenne River and continuing the assault against the Germans. Patton devised a plan to defeat the Germans, with a convoy acting as a decoy so that the Germans would focus on them instead of the Americans who would take the bridge. The Germans would blow the bridge at the first sight of armor, so the US troops headed to the town without armored support.

Battle
The Americans fought over the town with the Wehrmacht troops defending it, and in the process they attacked a medieval castle used by the Germans as their headquarters. Heavy fighting broke out in its courtyard, cellars, and in the vicinity, but the Americans succeeded in securing it. After the castle was captured, the US 90th Infantry Division moved into the town to clear it of German resistance, and the Germans put up fierce resistance with MG42s in their houses. However, in street-to-street and house-to-house fighting the Americans succeeded in driving the Germans out of their positions and disarming the aircraft bombs on the bridges, allowing for the Allied armor to move through Mayenne. The battle was a hard-fought American victory, and the success of the battle of Mayenne allowed for the Americans to continue their push towards Falaise.